Stephane Narcisse

Stephane Narcisse (1513-) was a powerful French nobleman during the mid-16th century. Despite his early rivalry with King Francis II of France and Mary, Queen of Scots, he served as Lord Chancellor under King Charles IX of France and loyally served the French and Scottish crowns.

Biography
Stephane Narcisse was born to a powerful noble family in 1513, and he was married off to a wealthy noblewoman at the age of 15. His wife died in childbirth after several miscarriages, and his second wife died of hemophilia. These two marriages produced four children, including Eduard Narcisse and Luc Narcisse. In 1559, he sent his son Stephane to murder the noble Pierre Voland in order to cover up his and Narcisse's embezzlement of the Catholic Church's money, pretending that Voland had slept with his wife; in fact, Eduard was unmarried and was instead engaged to marry a wealthy noblewoman. Narcisse came to the court of King Francis II of France after his son Eduard was murdered by being deliberately infected with the plague; he and several other nobles demanded that King Francis bring the killer to justice, accusing the court physician Nostradamus of murder. Francis was advised by his mother Queen Catherine de Medici against angering Narcisse, who could provoke a large-scale rebellion against King Francis, but Francis' wife, Mary, Queen of Scots spoke with Stephane and told him that she had Eduard executed for poisoning an entire household. Stephane then told Mary of the true nature of his plot, and told her that Nostradamus - despite being innocent - was to be brutally executed to avenge his son's death. Narcisse, like most other nobles, took advantage of the plague to cover up his crimes, including the murder of Cardinal Morosini, who was aware of Narcisse's embezzlement; Morosini's murder was blamed on Protestants. He succeeded in forcing the King to grant him lands in exchange for his satisfaction with Nostradamus' amnesty, but his grain embargo against the royal court failed when the royals purchased grain from the Protestant Germans instead. Narcisse later blackmailed King Francis about his murder of his own father in exchange for sparing the killers of Louis I of Bourbon, Prince de Conde's nephew, leading to the escalation of tensions with the Protestants which led to the start of the French Wars of Religion. Huguenot assassins raped Queen Mary after failing to locate King Francis, so Francis had twelve Protestants publicly hanged and also had Narcisse imprisoned for blackmailing him. Narcisse still remained a powerful noble, with Queen Mother Catherine de Medici, Claude, and Mary Fleming attempting to seduce him, but he ultimately discovered Catherine's plot to murder Fleming and her son Jean Philip and helped to thwart it. He went on to marry Fleming, and he served Queen Mary despite disliking her; he also helped Charles IX of France make peace with England with Spain's assistance. Narcisse later travelled to Scotland and cut off a testicle of Presbyterian leader John Knox, having been sent by Queen Mary to deal with the Protestant leader.